This invention relates generally to holders for hand implements such as paint brushes and more particularly to a hand implement holder that provides for the positioning of the implement handle at different angles relative to the working portion of the implement.
A hand implement may be provided with an adjustable handle that can be positioned at different relative angles with respect to the working portion, for example the bristle head of a paint brush. It is known to provide a plurality of angularly disposed faces on a holder, each face having a threaded hole or socket that is plugged with a screw or similar plug means when not in use. When the plug is removed, a threaded stem of the implement handle is engaged in the socket. This structure permits the handle to be disposed at different relative angles to the working part of the implement, but the handle receiving holes or threaded sockets can become fouled, as with paint, if the plugs or screw are not inserted in the unused sockets. The sockets thus may easily become clogged and unusable, and defeat the purpose of the adjustable tool handle.
Also known is a ball and socket arrangement wherein an implement handle member may be shifted through a slot and secured at any of several angular positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,710 discloses an implement holder that is provided with a plurality of flat faces connected by slots. A handle is attached to a stem as by threaded engagement, and the stem is pivotally secured within the holder so that it may swing within any selected one of the slots on the holder and be secured rigidly adjacent a respective flat clamping face. A user thus can shift the handle to a selected relative position with respect to the holder by loosening the handle sufficiently to clear the perimeter of the flat face on which it had been engaged and passing the handle to an adjacent face while still attached to the handle stem. A pivotal or flexible joint at the inner end of the stem permits the stem to be shifted angularly to any one of the slots in the flat clamping faces on the implement holder. The threaded engagement of the handle on the stem permits unscrewing or backing off the handle by rotation thereof to allow it to pass over the abutments formed by the margins of the flat clamping faces. When the stem is placed in its new selected position, the handle may be tightened by reverse rotation of the handle with respect to the threaded stem until it has traversed sufficiently axially along the threaded stem that it engage the corresponding face and is locked in position with respect to that face. Thus, the single stem may be adjusted into alignment with any of a number of faces on the holder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,618 discloses another implement handle pivotal connection including a handle stem which is pivotally retained with respect to an implement holder by an oblong retention ball member having its major axis oriented preferably at an angle of 90.degree. to the axis of the stem and the attached implement handle.
In either of the identified prior patents, the clamping faces on the implement head form a frustrum of a generally asymmetrical pyramid to provide multiple side or lateral faces and a top face. Further, the lateral clamping faces are set at different angles to the implement axis to provide different angular positions of the handle relative to the implement, and each clamping face is preferably flat and has a perimeteral edge thereof forming an abutment which requires the handle to be loosened for adjustment thereof to a different position.